Hi

I bought a 60-year old house in July. Poured concrete basement, very dry, partially finished.

There are wooden dividers in the outside walls. All but one are tight and dry.

One appears to be rotted (see pic). It also appears to have been patched several times over the years, but the patching never seemed to have held very well. The latest seems to be some sort of tarry substance. I suspect something happened to the wall when the hydromast and/or breaker panel were installed.

Oddly, a channel has been chiselled out of the floor to direct the water. Unfortunately, at some point (at least 14 years ago) someone finished part of the basement (with a sub-floor) in the way of this channel. I don't know if there is a second floor drain under there, but this channel doesn't point in the direction of the existing floor drain. It's a very slow leak.

I can't see any water damage/stain to the wood or any other part of the basement, so this leak doesn't seem to be a frequent event. Just in case, I did improve the drainage outside to slope the soil away from the house. However, this soil is new and still loose and we have had a great deal of rain these past few weeks. In other words, the ground is saturated. This spot hasn't leaked at all since I moved in early July.

My question is, should I be worried? This is obviously not a new problem, but no doubt the wood-rot will continue. I'm worried that, if I get a foundation repair company in here they will recommend digging up the side of the house. There just isn't the money for that. They'd have to dig down about 6 foot. My main concern is about this leak getting big enough to damage the wooden supports.